Two Singapore property agents plead guilty to illegal Airbnb rentals
Offering short stays in private homes is illegal in Singapore
Two Singaporean men pleaded guilty Tuesday to letting out flats on Airbnb without official permission, the first such case in the city state under new rules against short-term rentals.
Housing is a sensitive issue in rich but land-starved Singapore where more than 80 per cent of the population lives in government-subsidised flats.
Terence Tan En Wei, 35, and Yao Song Liang, 34, pleaded guilty in court to four charges of illegally renting out four flats in a luxury private block in central Singapore.
Prosecutors said the pair, who were property agents, had listed the flats on Airbnb, which allows homeowners to share their homes for a fee by marketing them online, and other holiday rental sites.
The duo made S$19,000 (US$14,500) from renting the flats between May 15 and June 21 last year, prosecutors said.
They will be sentenced in April. Deputy public prosecutor Selene Yap called for them to be fined S$80,000 each.
